By IANS,
London : A Labour member of the European Parliament has claimed the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka has the makings of a Gaza, and blamed government forces for civilian deaths.
“The Sri Lankan government may be celebrating great military victories in the north of the island but hundreds of thousands of its own civilians are suffering and dying, due to government attacks,” Robert Evans said in a statement.
Evans, chairman of the European Parliament delegation for relations with South Asia, has visited Sri Lanka several times, most recently in July 2008.
“The troops of the Sri Lankan government, a government indirectly supported by the West, stand accused of war crimes and atrocities,” he added.
Evans said the Sri Lankan government had rejected the claims of civilians being killed and wounded, and called these reports a “hoax” and “a total fabrication”.
“When the Red Cross say hospitals and ambulances have been hit by shelling, the situation is becoming all too much like Gaza. The world was appalled by what happened in the Middle East but ignores Sri Lanka where the situation is much the same,” the member of European Parliament said.
“Government troops are also accused of a string of sexual assaults and the rape of prisoners and those held in detention camps. It’s another Abu Ghraib situation and it can’t just be dismissed,” Evans insisted.